Report - Harworth Colliery, Nottinghamshire - January 2015

[clebby]

Harworth Colliery, Nottinghamshire.

Visited with dweeb. Some history for those who are interested:

Work began on sinking the shaft in 1913, when the Northern Union Mining Company was set up. This was with an investment in German equipment and men, but with the start of the First World War (1914-1918) the German workers were interned and the company's assets were impounded by the Government, and so construction was halted.

Later in 1917 the pit was bought by Messrs. Barber, Walker & Co. for £80,100, becoming full owners in 1921 after the war repayments scheme. The sinking of the shafts was started with preliminary works in 1919, but the first real sinking started in 1921. Water problems were encountered but this was overcome with the solidification of the ground with liquid cement grout. On 29 October 1923 the shaft sinkers eventually reached the Barnsley coal seam at 848 metres (2,782 ft) although there were problems with underground faults. The second shaft also reached the Barnsley seam on 15 November 1923.

In 1924 the colliery was connected with a 4.2 km railway line to connect with the LNER-owned East coast main line. The ECML became very congested and a connection the South Yorkshire Joint Railway was considered, also linking the new Firbeck Colliery (sinking started in 1923) near Carlton in Lindrick. A triangle junction would lead to another triangle junction near Styrrup with lines going to Harworth and another going through Oldcotes and Langold to reach Firbeck. The forecast for Harworth was 5000 tons per day; this would have meant more congestion, so the opportunity was taken by the new owners on the SYJR (LNER and the LMS) to build the line to connect both collieries. This was completed in 1928.

There were also several Coke ovens at Harworth, and like Maltby Main Colliery it was decided to modernise the pit in the 1950s. Rebuilding with the concrete headgears began in the late 1950s. These structures were replaced with the current headgears in 1989 (No 1 Shaft) and 1996 (No2 Shaft). Shortly after the No1 Headgears were built the new surface main mine fan was also commissioned to efficiently ventilate the workings.

After a fairly straightforward entrance, the explore rapidly descended into an utter gang fuck - by rights we should have been spotted at least five times and it's frankly a miracle we got to see what we did. I've never been particularly fussed about the coal industry (I realise it's epic but I'm not particularly upset to have missed the majority of it), but I thoroughly enjoyed Harworth and it's a must for those of you into your heavy industry. We only saw the remaining headstock and the power house as the place is being ripped apart as I type, but fortunately these are the best bits and are still totally intact. The winding gear is particularly impressive; if you found it at ground level it would be pretty cool but when you consider it's 50 or 60 meters up in the air it's bordering on epic!

On a plus note we bumped into Paul Chuckle in Harworth Asda. Some pictures:

Base of the concrete upcast, the tallest headstock in the UK:

Coal conveyors:

Emergency winder:

Ghastly photo from the deflector floor:

The winding gear itself:

Old NCB flag:

Moving on to the power house:

Boiler room:

A couple more:

Dirty!

Out of interest, I think this place has been posted elsewhere and I think there's nothing left to see here. Anyone object to it being moved to public so the urban tourists can see it?
​

 

[jST]

urban tourists

Urban tourist here: Would you care to leave it in NP for a little longer please. Where else has it been posted?

 

[clebby]

I saw some pictures on Flickr about 20 minutes ago but now I can't remember what I searched ffs. And yep keep it in here for now then

 

[Speed]

Glad you two got there. Not one to miss! No winder controls then?

 

[host]

Very nice mate, another cracking report.

 

[dweeb]

Glad you two got there. Not one to miss! No winder controls then?

I hadn't realised that it was any different till we got there, the lack of the control booth perplexed me. If I had known the hunt was on I would have spent more time investigating!

 

[raisinwing]

Great photos mate. If I didn't have to go to work I would be there tomorrow.

I would appreciate it staying in NP for just a little while longer, if possible?

 

[Humpa]

Pics of Paul Chuckle or it didnt happen :

On a serious note thou, impressive stuff

 

[clebby]

Cheers guys

Glad you two got there. Not one to miss! No winder controls then?

Negative. Had a poke about under the stairs in a few places but couldn't find it anywhere. Was hoping to see the old winding gear as well but our luck ran out before that was possible

 

[Speed]

I did wonder if they were in the cabin on the ground floor and have been ripped out for some reason.

 

[Dave W]

I did wonder if they were in the cabin on the ground floor and have been ripped out for some reason.

No - funnily enough when we first did it we got into the motor room and after it became obvious there wasn't a winder cab in there Joe suggested it was the booth down at the shaft bank (which after setting off PIR's in the other headstock and getting screamed at over the tannoy by a woman in a remote monitoring centre on the way in we had run straight past in the rush for motor room!).
That suggestion seemed to make sense so we didn't bother searching the floors below the motor room.

When we got back to the bottom and realised that booth was just a waiting room we couldn't be bothered to climb back up top again (this was before the shafts were capped and the air was pretty bad in there and the humidity was ridiculous)

Having since read a couple of articles from 1989 detailing the construction its definitely up top either on or just under the deflector floor.

Dave

PS Having been the first to report the do-ability of Harworth and in turn having given you guys the chance of seeing it I'd appreciate it if we kept it non-public a while longer....
Other than willy waving theres no reason I can see to go public with it.

 

[khampson]

Hello I run a Facebook group for the history of Harworth, would it be possible to use these photographs as it would give our members that worked there great pleasure to see them. It's OK if you refuse as you may not want to, I would not use without permission, all this is now gone but great to see. Great pics Thanks Keith

 

[nsdev]

No - funnily enough when we first did it we got into the motor room and after it became obvious there wasn't a winder cab in there Joe suggested it was the booth down at the shaft bank (which after setting off PIR's in the other headstock and getting screamed at over the tannoy by a woman in a remote monitoring centre on the way in we had run straight past in the rush for motor room!).
That suggestion seemed to make sense so we didn't bother searching the floors below the motor room.

When we got back to the bottom and realised that booth was just a waiting room we couldn't be bothered to climb back up top again (this was before the shafts were capped and the air was pretty bad in there and the humidity was ridiculous)

Having since read a couple of articles from 1989 detailing the construction its definitely up top either on or just under the deflector floor.

Dave

PS Having been the first to report the do-ability of Harworth and in turn having given you guys the chance of seeing it I'd appreciate it if we kept it non-public a while longer....
Other than willy waving theres no reason I can see to go public with it.

It least in public it means plebs like me can see something interesting. I'm no urban tourist, I have very little interest in traipsing around places that are documented everywhere taking silly photographs, but I do have a keen interest in industrial history. Yes I should get some reports posted then I could get to see behind the scenes but sadly running my own business and working 7 days a week means I don't have the mucking about time that everyone on here seems to manage to get somehow. So yes, we're not all dickheads in plebville

 

[Dave W]

It least in public it means plebs like me can see something interesting. I'm no urban tourist, I have very little interest in traipsing around places that are documented everywhere taking silly photographs, but I do have a keen interest in industrial history. Yes I should get some reports posted then I could get to see behind the scenes but sadly running my own business and working 7 days a week means I don't have the mucking about time that everyone on here seems to manage to get somehow. So yes, we're not all dickheads in plebville

I run a business and live on a island - I still manage to get out there and keep on top of the industrial stuff.

As far as I know I never said you were all dickheads? But your post means I now get the impression you are. Why should I feel a responsibility to post sensitive stuff in public so you can do the tourist thing?
Harworth has been mothballed for years just sat there - anyone with an interest in mining knew about it and should have been checking on it. I did and I live 300miles away.
Come to think of it I texted the people on here who are in to industry as soon as it was doable to let them know - I'm sure they told other people who told other people, but somehow you weren't in the loop?
This was almost a year and a half ago anyway - nobody else bothered to go until @Speed then @clebby and co finally got there by which time the downcast had been demolished.

It's all demolished now anyway with the exception of the upcast and thats pretty stripped and secure now.

Less bitching more exploring maybe?

 

[clebby]

^^^ Testify